Charlotte Divorce Lawyer Blog

Child Support and Post Separation Support Obligations Not Affected by Religious Beliefs

Published on: June 22, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Recently, in the case of Shippen v. Shippen, the North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld a civil contempt finding against a husband who failed to pay child support and post-separation support to his ex-wife.

Shortly after the child support payments were ordered, John Lee Shippen joined the Twelve Tribes of Israel, a religious community that prohibits its members from earning outside income or owning personal assets. Instead, the sect’s members farm and provide services to one another in exchange for food and housing.

The court found that Mr. Shippen’s failure to make payments was “willful” for the purposes of the contempt order because he had the mental and physical ability to comply with the order. Mr. Shippen alleged that he acted in good faith based on his sincerely-held religious beliefs that prevented him from earning income. The court concluded that the fact that the defendant’s religious beliefs may be sincerely held is irrelevant to his obligation to pay alimony and child support.

Marriage, Divorce and Immigration

Published on: June 18, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

In Manhattan, the home of federal immigration headquarters, the future of many couples depends upon whether they can prove to the government that they did not marry solely to acquire a green card for one spouse. If a couple can successfully pass their interviews with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the foreign spouse will become eligible for a green card; however, the actual receipt of a green card requires a separate application and security clearance.

According to an agency worksheet, red flags for immigration interviewers include: unusual cultural differences, a large age discrepancy between spouses, an unusual number of children, and a U.S. citizen spouse with little means. Interviewers also seek evidence of a legitimate marriage, such as the commingling of assets and other joint documentation, and a mental and emotional connection as the result of shared life experiences.

The actual number of green card petitions denied on the basis of fraud is quite small: only 506 of the 241,154 petitions filed by citizens last year were denied. The criminal penalties for perpetrating a marriage fraud are up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Tough Child Custody Decisions: What Happens to the Children?

Published on: June 15, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

A judge in Charlotte will soon have to decide the fate of two siblings who recently witnessed their father murder the rest of their family in their home. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police report that the father of the children, Kenny Chapman, suffocated his wife and their 1-year-old daughter, then stabbed his wife’s daughter from a previous relationship. Chapman’s surviving 11-year-old daughter claims that he spared her and her 2-year-old brother because they were his first-born of each sex, and therefore they were special. The surviving children lived in the home for two weeks after the murders, and the daughter did not contact any relatives or act distraught, in an effort to avoid the same fate at her father’s hands.

The two children had the same father, but different mothers, which is complicating their case. The paternal grandparents want to be awarded custody of both children, but the maternal grandmother only wants custody of the boy, as she believes that she has a significant connection to him, and she is of no relation to the girl. Due to everything the children have endured together, the paternal grandparents believe that the children belong together. If the children are separated, the grandparents hope that arrangements can be made for them to see one another on a regular basis.

Divorce Attorneys Becoming Facebook Sleuths

Published on: June 11, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Before the age of the internet, divorce attorneys used subpoenas and private investigators to glean the truth from opposing parties. Now, with the advent of social networking sites, the first place many attorneys can find incriminating evidence is on Facebook. Social networking discovery skills have become critical for many divorce attorneys who seek to support certain aspects of their cases. Incriminating information gleaned from social networking sites can sway the outcome of alimony disputes and child custody battles, particularly if the information discredits the party in the eyes of the presiding judge.

Eighty percent of attorneys surveyed by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers reported a rise in the number of cases litigated that relied on social media over the past five years. Because Facebook boasts over 400 million users, most parties to litigation are bound to have created social networking accounts at some point in time. However, last week Facebook announced a tightening of users’ privacy settings in response to many user complaints.

National Digital Forensics, Inc., a North Carolina company that mines online media sites for information, reports that requests for social media searches from divorce lawyers have surged recently. The company’s senior investigator estimates that about half the social media cases they investigate expose some form of adultery.

Divorce Looms Ahead for Long-Term Married Couples

Published on: June 8, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Although the recent announcement by Al and Tipper Gore that they are separating after 40 years of marriage has shocked the country, a recent CNN article indicates that more long-term relationships in this decade are heading toward divorce than ever before. Break-ups between long-term married couples are still far rarer than between newlyweds, but factors such as longer lifespans and a growing acceptance of divorce are accelerating the divorce rate among older couples.

According to the 2004 U.S. Census Bureau data, most first-time divorces occur around the 8th year of marriage. Experts say there are three “divorce-prone” points in time that will either make or break a marriage. The first is after the initial two years of marriage, when the couple has passed the “honeymoon period.” The second is around the five to seven year mark, when children are typically born. The final point is when the children leave home for college and the couple becomes empty-nesters with fewer ties to one another.

Couples like the Gores who have successfully navigated their marriage past all of these divorce-prone points often cause the greatest shockwaves when announcing a separation or divorce.

Divorce Predictor #15: You are in a same-sex marriage.

Published on: June 3, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

As we have discussed here (The Legal Hurdles of Obtaining a Same-Sex Divorce) legal issues related to same sex divorce are, naturally, becoming more important as same sex marriage increases. According to a new research team from Stockholm University’s Department of Sociology and Demography, who studied legal partnerships in Norway and Sweden, same-sex marriages are much more likely to end in divorce than opposite-sex marriages. This study found that male same-sex marriages are 50 percent more likely to end in divorce than heterosexual marriages, while female same-sex marriages are 167 percent more likely.

Divorce Predictor #14: You are a female serial cohabitator.

Published on: May 31, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Women who have lived with more than one partner before their first marriage are 40 percent more likely to get divorced than women who have never cohabitated prior to marriage. Although cohabitation seems like good practice for married life, it can tend to make living together during marriage seem less permanent. According to the Brown University Population and Training Center, a marriage preceded by cohabitation has a better chance of success when the couple became officially engaged prior to moving in together.

Divorce Predictor #13: Your children are multiples.

Published on: May 29, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

If you have twins or triplets, your marriage is 17 percent more likely to end in divorce than parents of children who were not multiple births. According to the Twins and Multiple Births Association, multiple births create money woes within families, which induces stress in the household.

Divorce Predictor #12: You have been diagnosed with cancer.

Published on: May 28, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Women who have been diagnosed with cervical cancer have a 40 percent likelihood of getting divorced, whereas men who have been diagnosed with testicular cancer have a 20 percent likelihood. Norwegian Cancer Registry researchers suspect that these statistics exist because these two types of cancer affect sexual activity and afflict mainly younger people. Conversely, breast cancer survivors, who are typically older, are 8 percent less likely to divorce.

Divorce Predictor #11: You are of “below average” intelligence.

Published on: May 25, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

According to the Delaware-Johns Hopkins Project for the Study of Intelligence and Society, a person of “below average” intelligence is 50 percent more likely to be divorced than one of “above average” intelligence. Spouses with IQs of 100 have a 28 percent probability of divorce in the first five years of marriage, as compared to a 9 percent probability for those with IQs of 130 or higher.